While I was recently in Los Angeles, I had the chance to visit The Petersen Museum’s “100 Years of Mercedes” exhibit.

Sitting amongst Clark Gable’s 1956 300 Sc, Walt Disney’s 1964 230 SL roadster and Ferdinand Marcos’ armored 1984 500 SEL was what’s believed to be the only 1987 300 AMG “Hammer” wagon. Its 375 horsepower 6.0-liter V-8 engine ate Porsches, hitting 186 mph with back-slamming ferocity. It cost $200,000, or $575,800 today. Fwumpf!

By the time I arrived home in Indianapolis, I had an even better car waiting in my driveway: a 2026 Mercedes-AMG E53 plug-in hybrid wagon, a devil-summoning tyrant that carts families in comfort, gives hell to common muscle cars or slips silently through traffic on the way to the local bougie health market. Greeting it in Indiana instead of sun-soaked L.A. also gave me a chance to drive it in the real world.

There’s no doubt it’s an AMG product, with the grille’s vertical slats, gaping air intakes, 21-inch black wheels and darkened logos that echo the old Hammers. It’d look even better with a proper black traditional grille and stand-up star like the original. Black roof rails are mostly useless, but they add style. Bodywork draws tight over the wheels and sweeps rearward to the wagon hatch. Every line was carefully considered with just a crease to add tension. It’s purely sinister.

Which also describes the interior with natural Black Ash veneer topped by Mercedes’ Superscreen that spans 3D flatscreen gauges, center touchscreen and co-pilot screen. Deeply bolstered front seats with microfiber inserts and red stitching make clear this car is no joke. Settle beneath a twin-panel sunroof, crank up the smooth Bermester audio and warm the front buckets in winter. Rear seat space is a might tight, but Mercedes offers a wide range of AMG crossovers if legroom is a priority.

Compared to the old Hammer, this one runs with an engine porting half the displacement and two fewer cylinders. The gas part comprises a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six-cylinder engine, but it’s also a plug-in hybrid that goes over 40 miles on electricity before gas is burned. Recharging takes about six hours on 240 volts. Driving to work or taking kiddos to school, it’s essentially an EV, but when you want to tempt the devil on weekends or drive coast-to-coast without finding a plug, it does so with the furor of an assaulted cheetah.

No doubt, its performance would embarrass the old wagon I saw in California. Take 577 horsepower, 553 pound-feet of torque, 0-60 mph in a scant 3.8 seconds, and blistering 174 mph top speed. Except for top speed, those digits vastly surpass the original. Even better, all-wheel-drive puts power down evenly and dispenses a little snow or ice with the right tires. Given this car’s thundering persona, fuel economy is quite reasonable — rated 22-MPG Combined or 56-MPGe, depending on which spirit is breathing.

As expected, suspension tuning is quite firm even with the adaptive suspension set in its softest setting, and it will rattle your brain on broken pavement, but it was plenty compliant for a two-hour run to a local state park and worked hard to absorb rougher concrete on side streets near my house. Rear axle steering comes in handy, allowing it to turn like a much smaller machine in driveways, maneuver through tight city streets or to impress your friends with parallel parking talents. Yet when the road turns twisty, it grabs apexes by the throat and refuses to let go.

If the devil is in the details, then Satan was involved stem-to-stern. But he was apparently in a benevolent mood.

The E53 is both fast and efficient, but also fortified with safety tech that includes automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, and blind spot warning. Backing into parking spaces is click-click easy with surround view cameras. You can even drive hands-off on approved highways like Interstate 70 outside of Indianapolis. It just drove me home with very little intervention.

I’d consider hawking my very soul for the ’87 Hammer wagon — it remains one of my all-time favorites, but that’s unwarranted blasphemy given all the 2026 equivalent offers. In every measurable and experiential way, the E53 is a far superior car for a fraction of the price. It’s far from cheap at $111,540 as tested, but maybe we should think of it as a classic Hammer with an 80% discount. Competitors include the BMW M5 Touring.

Likes: unholy performance; tree-hugging efficiency; everyday utility

Dislikes: tight seating; harsh ride; big $$$$

2026 Mercedes-AMG E53 Hybrid Wagon

Five-passenger, AWD Wagon

Powertrain: 3.0-liter TI6, 9-spd auto

Output: 577hp/553 lb.-ft. torque

Suspension f/r: Adap Ind/Ind

Wheels f/r: 21”/21” alloy

Brakes f/r: regen disc/disc

0-60 mph: 3.8s

Fuel economy: 22/56-MPG gas/hybrid

Assembly: Sindelfingen, Germany

Base/As-tested price: $93,350/$111,540

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